Some
years ago, the Saturday Night Live show included a hilarious sketch
featuring a defensive character (portraying an attorney for the tobacco
industry, I think). The skit consisted of the attorney sitting in front of
the camera for an interview, during which the interviewer reminded him of
some obvious fact the attorney had gotten wrong or had “misrepresented.” The
punch line, and the most memorable part, would come just then, as the camera
trained on him, nervously puffing at his cigarette and sweating profusely in
his suit and tie: “I knew that! What makes you think I didn’t know that? You
think I didn’t know that?”

So, you can imagine how
hard it was for me not to laugh when I heard those words from George W. Bush
during the Thursday night debate. Kerry stated that Bush’s remarks revealed
that he didn’t know it was Osama bin Laden who had attacked America, not
Saddam Hussein. Bush barked back: “Of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked
us. I know that!”

Of course, just to
concentrate on this reaction wouldn’t be fair. I mean it wouldn’t be fair to
leave out the rest of the string of funny remarks. Such gems included the
statement that “we are modernizing our borders.” How do you exactly
modernize the borders? Well, you can re-draw them to reflect the territory
you would like to occupy. Or, you can bring some modern amenities to the
poor, devastated communities that are strewn along the borders from Texas to
California. But, I doubt that’s what was meant by, “modernizing our
borders.” I suspect what is meant is that a more high-tech barrier would be
erected between U.S. and Mexico. More surly guards will be added, who can
better humiliate illegal immigrants (Preference will be given to those with
Abu Ghraib experience).

Or, consider the depth of
the empathy George W. Bush feels for all the victims of the war when he
declares, “I see on the TV screen how hard it is.” Wow! I didn’t know all I
had to do to understand the misery of war was to watch TV. Now, the audience
of Schindler’ List can finally claim to know what it is to be a victim of
the holocaust. Those who are not watching the war on the TV screen, however,
have a slight problem. They can’t turn off the war after a few seconds. They
get blown to pieces when bombs drop on them. They lose hands, arms, legs,
skin, eyes, beloved child, elderly mother, brother, friend, their senses,
and hope. These things don’t happen “on the TV screen.” They only happen if
war happens to you.

Was there a miscalculation
in the decision to attack Iraq, or the execution of that attack, the
invasion, and the subsequent occupation? Well, yes. But, when asked about
it, Bush responded that he had hoped to kill more Iraqis. “I thought they
would stay and fight, but they didn't,” he said. If they had stayed to be
bombed by the U.S., according to Bush, it would have made it easier for the
U.S. On the other hand, it’s never too late to start. The indiscriminate
bombings of Falluja, Najaf, Ramadi, and Samarra, among countless other
places are already helping to achieve Bush’s original objective of maximum
casualties.

Kamyar Arasteh is a writer and psychologist. He is the author of
The American Reichstag: A Psychopolitical Analysis of 9/11 and Its
Aftermaths. He can be reached at:
kaar@rcn.com.